Start of the project’s first phase was marked by official kick-off meeting. Two days of lively discussion on how to ensure second phase of the project.  The meeting did not only involve members of the Consortium but also distinguished guests from Embassies of our partner countries Mr. Edouardo Maria Vitali (Embassy of Italian Republic), Mr. Joaquín Támara Espot (Embassy of Spain), Mrs. Gabriele Hermani (Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany), representatives of the European crystal growth-related industry Dr. Samuel Marlin (Saint-Gobain Innovative Materials), Dr. Adam Piotrowski (Vigo Systems), and representatives of Polish non-profit scientific organizations and technological clusters.

The first day of the inauguration took place at the Center of New Technologies (University of Warsaw), our guests were welcomed by Rector of University of Warsaw Professor Marcin Pałys, afterwards partners of ENSEMBLE³ had the chance to talk about their institutions and scientific endeavors. This part of the meeting was concluded by panel discussion “Financing of Research – Government and Business”, moderated by Mr. Aleksander Wasiukiewicz from University of Warsaw Technology Transfer Hub. We wish to thank once again our distinguished panelists for this lively discussion – Mrs. Agnieszka Ratajczak (National Center for Research and Development), Dr. Samuel Marlin (Saint-Gobain Innovative Materials), Dr. Adam Piotrowski (Vigo Systems),  Mr. Michał Pietras (Foundation for Polish Science), Professor Martin Wegener (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Professor José M. Pitarke (CIC nanoGUNE), Mr. Hubert Niewiadomski (Ministry of Development). Second part of the meeting was the discussion and presentations by people involved in this Teaming for Excellence project, this day concluded with a much deserved meal course at Polish Restaurant Różana.

Discussions continued the second day at the Institute of Electronic Materials, where our partners had the chance catch some break and see some of the advanced equipment at the Institute before heading out to the Warsaw airport.

In summary kick of meeting was very productive, our foreign consortium partners had the chance to see both hosting institutions and learn about prospects of obtaining funds for conducting research in Poland, Polish crystal industry and technological clusters related to scope of ENSEMBLE³.